By Joseph Catena
Growing up in the 1970s and 1980s and being a lifetime Catholic school student, I did not have to endure an army of nuns as my father did in the 1930s and ‘40s. In those days, the good sisters wore full habits and were not to be messed with. Especially the one who gave him a bloody nose during a study hall, when he was sneaking a read about birds, a magazine not so inconspicuously tucked in his folder. After Sister Mary What’s Her Name unleashed her open hand, she took the magazine and made Dad clean up the blood on the floor, courtesy of her swift right hand.
The nuns in my day were more modern. They shed the habits, but there was no mistaking who they were, based on their attire and their aura. And you still didn’t mess with them. Take Sister Barbara Ann, for example, who taught seventh grade. If the boys ever had a skirmish or some other issue with each other, she had a unique three-step approach to exercising diplomacy. Step one: she grabbed the two perps by their hair and clunked their heads together. Step two featured contrition through embarrassment. She would bearhug them one at a time and give each stunned student “TLC” – a driving, smothering smooch on their cheek. Step three called for a ceasefire, and the two boys would shake hands.
All done. No lawsuits, no complaints, and no serious injuries. Diplomacy served. In a serious sole infraction, another method was exercised. Sister Barbara Ann, Sister Patricia William Sullivan, our principal, who resembled a stout broad-shouldered drill sergeant, or Miss T, the greatest teacher ever, who was an eighth-grade institution in my school and an ex-nun to boot, would get in the student’s face and give them a tongue lashing accompanied by a good old-fashioned finger wagging inches from their nose. The finger wagging always stood out to me as the ultimate deal sealer. It was a non-physical warning, but its delivery was borderline frightening.
In modern political times, it is easy to view the radical left Democrats and wokesters as a bunch of petulant middle schoolers who think they are above the rules and laws of this country. Two in particular immediately come to mind: New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who represents the Amazonless 14th district of New York. Murphy made recent waves in speaking out against the ICE raids that are rooting out the evil aliens, who have wreaked havoc throughout the United States.
Murphy unscrupulously stated that he was harboring an illegal alien in his home, specifically above his garage. Furthermore, he stuck out his chest and declared, “good luck to the feds trying to come and get her.” AOC was more sophisticated and cunning in her approach. The Squad leader spearheaded a “Know Your Rights with ICE” webinar. The former bartender’s office along with lawyers from the Immigration Defense Project are educating migrants about their “rights” and how to avoid removal.
These two incorrigibles still don’t get it. Sounds like they need a serious dose of the new head nun in charge, Sister Thomas Aquinas Homan. There is little doubt that Sister Homan still dons a full habit, carries a pointer, wears a very heavy set of rosary beads, and tows the Church’s dogma everywhere in her institution.
Catholic middle school analogies aside, Murphy and AOC – especially Murphy, need their political bells rung loudly. And Tom Homan is just the guy to do it. The border czar did not take kindly to Murphy’s bravado. He cited the governor’s possible violation of Title 8, United States Code 1324, which may call for prosecution. Tough guy Murphy immediately shifted his narrative and stated he never actually housed the non-citizen in his garage. She was, in fact, here under a legal program.
To her credit, AOC has not folded and continues her radical resistance. She suggested Homan read the Constitution before acting upon further deportation quests. Homan retorted that he has already given her a lesson on the law during congressional hearings and suggested that she read Codes 1324 and 1325. Homan also stressed that the people being sought are those with outstanding warrants for serious crimes, and he inferred if any of those are ones AOC is educating, it can lead to danger. If they continue a crime spree, innocent Americans will continue to fall victim.
Undermining law enforcement, regardless of machismo or sophistication, is dangerous. It is intolerable. Innocent lives are put at risk. This is a perfect opportunity for Tom Homan to pull a Sister Barbara Ann. Homan should take a trip to Murphy’s posh Middletown, NJ mansion, perhaps after conducing an ICE raid in Elizabeth or Newark (may as well pay a visit while you’re in the Grden State), and do a little investigating. After that, or before that, depending on proximity, the ICE crew can go over to AOC’s office and see exactly whom she is protecting in her webinars. After all, we wouldn’t want her to be complicit in educating a Tren de Aragua member about his rights and freedoms.
The two adolescent blowhards need to be made an example of. While a head clunking might be a nice way of making this pair of ignoramuses realize the error of their ways, a good finger wagging and a stern lesson in dogma should suffice. Furthermore, Tom Homan doesn’t need to administer TLC to either of these nitwits. That was a job only Sister Barbara Ann could do and get away with.